Katie Britt was elected Alabama’s first female senator.
The results of the mid-term elections in the United States were published one after the other. While every election victory is something to celebrate, some are historic and special. Here is the list of candidates from BBC journalist Jessica Sherwood who have so far written a new chapter in history in the 2022 mid-term elections in the United States.
Katie Britt: Alabama’s first female senator
Republican candidate Katie Britt, 40, was elected Alabama’s first female senator, according to calculations by the BBC’s US partner CBS News.
Britt, who beat Democratic opponent Will Boyd in the seat, will replace Richard Shelby, who will retire after 36 years in the Senate.
“I am honored, honored and grateful for this,” she told her supporters.
Since the first senatorial elections in 1932, the United States has had 58 female senators, out of 100 in the Senate.
Britt also said she would be the first Republican in the Senate with school-age children, so she’s committed to building a better future for young people.
Maxwell Frost: 25, first representative of Gen Zmember
Democrat Maxwell Frost, 25, is expected to win Florida’s 10th Congressional District. Born in 1997, he was the first Gen Z (Gen, the generation born around the millennium) elected to the United States House of Representatives.
His victory came as no surprise, as his campaign focused on issues that appeal to young voters, including gun violence, climate change, abortion rights and the expansion of health care.
She may not be the only Gen Z person elected to the House of Representatives in 2022. Republican Karoline Leavitt is also running in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District.
Maura Healey, a 51-year-old Democrat, is expected to win the Massachusetts government election. And she will be the first elected lesbian governor.
Healey defeated Trump-backed Republican Geoff Diehl. Healey’s victory ended eight years of Republican rule in the state after the previous governor, Charlie Baker, chose not to run for re-election.
Healy is also one of two openly lesbians running for governor this year. The other is Tina Kotek, who is running for governor of Oregon.
Healy was the second female governor of Massachusetts, elected by Republican Jane Swift in 2001.
During the election campaign, Healey pledged to make childcare more accessible, expand vocational training programs, and was explicit about the US Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade in June, saying that he wanted his states to have safe and legal abortion options.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders: Trump’s press secretary elected governor
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, 40, is best known for being Trump’s press secretary during the presidency. Projections suggest that she will win the Arkansas governor election, becoming the state’s first female governor.
He won against Democratic opponent Chris Jones in the Republican-dominated state.
Although she was the first female governor of Arkansas, she was no stranger to the governor’s office, as her father, Mike Huckabee, served as the governor of the state from 1996 to 2007.
Democrat Wes Moore, 44, also made history as Maryland’s first black governor. He is only the third black governor in the country’s 246-year history, along with Deval Patrick of Massachusetts and Douglas Wilder of Virginia.
Moore is a best-selling author and former leader of the poverty-stricken group Robin Hood.
“I haven’t forgotten that I made history here tonight, but I also know I’m not the first to try,” he told fans on Tuesday.
“The most important story for us is the story that we and the people of this state will make over the next four years.”
Republican Markwayne Mullin, 35, was re-elected as Oklahoma’s first Native American Senator in nearly 100 years.
The seat has been held by Republicans since 1987.
A member of the Cherokee tribe, Mullin was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2012 as a member of the Congressional Native American Caucus.
The last Native American senator was Ben “Nighthorse” Campbell of the Northern Cheyenne tribe. He retired in 2005 after serving two terms in the Senate and three in the House of Representatives.
James Rosennell: first transgender male congressman
Democrat James Roesener, 26, was elected the first openly transgender male congressman in US history.
Rosennell is one of the highest numbers of transgender candidates running this year.
He campaigned for women’s abortion rights, wage equality in New Hampshire, and supported legislation that guaranteed gay rights, including guarantees of same-sex marriage.
Kathy Hocher: New York State’s first female governor
Calculations show that Democratic state representative Delia Ramirez, 39, will be Illinois’ first elected Latin congressman.
This meant that he defeated Republican Justin Burau in the state’s 3rd congressional district.
“We made history tonight,” Ramirez told fans on campaign night. “We broke the glass roof.”
In 2018, Ramirez became the first Guatemalan-American elected to the Illinois House of Representatives. He fought for affordable housing and guaranteed abortion rights in the state.
Former President Trump predicted a “red storm” in the election.
With inflation in the United States hitting 8% and Democratic President Joe Biden’s approval rate dropping, Republicans were hoping to regain control of Congress by leaps and bounds in this mid-term election, but why the results failed as expected? According to BBC reporters Bernd Debusmann Jr and Natalie Sherman, there are a few reasons.
1. Economic issues are not everything.While it is the main issue voters care most about, it is proving to have less impact on Democrats than previously feared. Some experts say that despite slow economic growth and rising cost of living, the economy remains essentially healthy and unemployment remains low. The economy also reflects the country’s polarization, and Democrats still generally appear to be more positive and more independent than Republicans, putting economic concerns behind issues like climate change, race and abortion, Trump said. Pu ha’s “wonderful spirit” also motivated more voters to go out and vote.
2. The democratic field remains alive. Preliminary data shows that voter turnout in many parts of the country is at an all-time high in these mid-term elections, led in part by a democratic camp led by young voters who vote for issues such as guaranteeing reproductive choice. Jon Taylor, a political science professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, told the BBC that if the Supreme Court hadn’t tipped Roe against Wade, the Democrats wouldn’t have worked so hard to motivate people to vote, “which in reality helps democracy. The party resists the red storm “.
3. Breaking the conventions of mid-term elections.Historically, the party to which an incumbent belongs has often lost disastrously in mid-term elections. From 1934 to 2018, a president’s party in office lost an average of 28 seats in the House and four seats in the Senate in each mid-term election, according to data from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Justin Buchler, a political science professor at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, said the track record in the midterm elections may have created in people’s minds that the Republican Party will win this election. “I think a lot of people are blinded by the forecast,” he said. This is a lesson in the recent election that people haven’t learned, he said.
4. Move on to a referendum on Trump.The election is also seen by many as proof of Trump and his influence on the Republican Party. Jon Taylor of the University of Texas said many swinging voters may have decided to vote for it, undermining the former president’s influence on the Republican Party: “Look at the candidates he supports, especially the negative Running for Governor, Senator, secretary of state, etc., many losers. Even if one or two wins, it doesn’t give the Republican Party an expansion or a majority. “
